Photographer John Movius Discusses War and Perception in His Project, Sight Range

In 2003, John Movius was the recipient of the New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, Daniel Rosenburg Travel Fellowship. The Tisch School of the Arts’ Department of Photography and Imaging awards the grant annually to one graduating senior to complete and exhibit a project involving travel. Movius used the grant to complete a project called Sight Range: Photographs and Stories by Soldiers of Desert Storm. This collaborative piece explores the way soldiers involved in Desert Storm have used photography as a method of personal documentary. Sight Range provides a venue for these soldiers to tell their stories and exhibit documents of war of a different nature from those seen in the newspaper or on the TV news. The project was first exhibited at Tisch’s Gulf and Western Gallery, and can also be seen on the web at www.regardingwar.org. In the following interview, Movius discusses the inspirations for the project, the way he put it together and his ideas for future work.. Read more »

Review: Witness or Participant: Bertien van Manen at MoMA, and Collier Schorr at Roth Gallery in New York

Published almost 15 years ago, Larry Sultan’s groundbreaking project about his parents—“Pictures From Home,” included striking yet intimate portraits of his parents at their suburban home in California, sequenced loosely with snapshots from family albums, color saturated and grainy stills from home movies, and even images from a corporate brochure where his father worked. Into this visual stew he included forthright and riveting commentary from his father and mother, and disarmingly his own reservations about photographing his parents: “What drives me to continue this work is difficult to name. It has more to do with love than sociology, with being a subject in the drama rather than a witness. And in the odd and jumbled process of working everything shifts; the boundaries blur, my distance slips, the arrogance and illusion of immunity falters. I wake up in the middle of the night, stunned and anguished. These are my parents. From that simple fact, everything follows.” Read more »

Educator Philip Perkis & Teaching Photography: Notes Assembled

A photographer since 1957, Philip Perkis is an accomplished educator, photographer and source of inspiration to his students and peers. This feature is an excerpt from "Teaching Photography: Notes Assembled," a collection of forty years worth of observations and exercises (OB Press, Rochester, 2001). Perkis's "notes" explore both photography and teaching as relevant, mysterious and fascinating endeavors. Written in hopes of encouraging "younger photographers and teachers to take some chances," TeachingPhoto is happy to introduce (or re-introduce) this collection to our readership. At the bottom of this excerpt is a small portfolio of Philip's images. Continued >

Hidden Treasures:  The Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

The Photographic History Collection (PHC) at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH) is the first collection of photography at any museum.  There are about 200,000 images representing the work of over 4,000 photographers and 12,000 pieces of equipment and photographic apparatus. The PHC collects images and objects representing the art, science, and technology of photography. As such, the collection is very broad. Read more »

PHOTOGRAPHY NOW IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The Digital Dilemma: Teaching to a Moving Target

Most of you probably are teaching some computer-based still imaging, either in your own lab or one you share with another discipline in your department. If you did what we at Northeastern University did, you added digital courses alongside the conventional courses you already teach. Shared labs worked for a while, but in our case teaching our courses using computers that are set up for graphic designers and animators was less than ideal. We were always reconfiguring them for use with Photoshop, and outputting was a nightmare. Read more »

SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT

Concord-Carlisle High School Teacher Expects Curiosity, Experimentation

For nearly 20 years, David Prifti has been using photography to teach teenagers about creativity, self-expression, and critical thinking at Concord-Carlisle High School in Concord, Massachusetts. Along the way, he's built a progression of course offerings that would be the envy of some college art departments. Read more »


NON-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT

The Light Factory

In 1972 there was-according to ten photographers in Charlotte, North Carolina-a serious lack of fine-art photographs available for viewing in the Southeast. They shared their frustration and started regularly viewing each other's work while enjoying a few beers. Thus The Light Factory (TLF) was conceived. Read more »

THOSE WHO TEACH, DO

Sylvia Wolf

Whitney Museum of American Art, New YorkThe Whitney Museum of American Art began collecting photography in depth in 1991. Eight years later, Sylvia Wolf was invited to become the museum's first curator to focus solely on photography and on expanding the Museum's collection of twentieth century American photographic art. Read more »

Professional Opportunities for Students

As I visit photography programs across the country, I am continually amazed at how few of them encourage and support an internship program that allows students to work in professional situations. The job market today is very tough, and students need to prepare for seeking employment; internships will help your students decide which areas of photography they do and do not want to pursue after college. Read more »

Digital Matters

First, a little history: the Photography Program at Northeastern University was relatively stable through the late 80s and early 90s. I had worked to update color processing, replace older enlargers, increase the budget allocation, secure lab staffing, and increase lab access, etc. By 1992 computers were beginning to have a presence in the Graphic Design program, and I made a proposal to my dean to attend a workshop at the Center for Imaging in Camden, Maine. Read more »

Product Reviews

New products for photographers seem to be coming out every day and the recent Photo Plus Expo in New York showed them all. Most are digital and hybrid products, but a surprising number are film-based. Here are several of the most interesting in three categories: 35mm SLRs, lenses, and color films. Read more »

THOSE WHO TEACH, DO

For Keith Carter, Commercial Came First

Keith Carter may be acclaimed for his university teaching and fine-art photography, but he got his start as a jack-of-all-trades photographer in his small Texas hometown. Read more »

 


Rebecca Cummins: Down Under and Back

Seattle's Rebecca Cummins isn't afraid to follow her interests, whether they lead her across the globe, back through time, or over the boundaries between disciplines. Read more »

 


ASSIGNMENTS

Elaine O'Neil: Constructing Color

As with many foundation programs, the first year at the Rochester Institute of Technology is a tossed salad of photography topics. RIT's Elaine O'Neil devised this downloadable assignment to teach several fundamental concepts of traditional techniques and digital technology in one lesson. Read more »

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

Mary Virginia Swanson: Getting Your Work Out

Feeling frustrated in your efforts to get the work out there? Mary Virginia Swanson, a leading voice in marketing fine-art photography, offers some basic advice on how to put your portfolio in front of the curators and editors who can move your career forward. Read more »

TECHNICAL TIPS

John Reuter: Using Layer Styles Blending

John Reuter, director of Polaroid's 20 x 24 Studio in New York, has spent 30 years exploiting the random quirks of instant materials. Now he offers a simple step-by-step procedure that exploits chance transformations and image combinations using Photoshop Layer Styles Blending. Read more »

NEWS

A. D. Coleman's Cyber Archive

Photography critic A. D. Coleman has established the Photography Criticism Cyber Archive, an online collection of writings on photography for scholars, researchers, educators, and students. Read more »

REVIEWS

Technology Reviews: New Photo and Imaging Tools

American PHOTO technology editor Russell Hart introduces us to some of the latest photo offerings, from traditional to digital. Read more »

 

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